Flat-panel displays are being developed which utilize liquid crystals or electroluminescent materials to produce high quality images. These displays-are expected to supplant cathode ray tube (CRT) technology and provide a more highly defined television picture. The most promising route to large scale high quality liquid crystal displays (LCDs), for example, is the active-matrix approach in which thin-film transistors (TFTs) are co-located with LCD pixels. The primary advantage of the active matrix approach using TFTs is the elimination of cross-talk between pixels, and the excellent grey scale that can be attained with TFT-compatible LCDs.
Flat panel displays employing LCD""s generally include five different layers: a white light source, a first polarizing filter that is mounted on one side of a circuit panel on which the TFTs are arrayed to form pixels, a filter plate containing at least three primary colors arranged into pixels, and finally a second polarizing filter. A volume between the circuit panel and the filter plate is filled with a liquid crystal material. This material will rotate the polarization of light when an electric field is applied across it between the circuit panel and a ground affixed to the filter plate. Thus, when a particular pixel of the display is turned on, the liquid crystal material rotates polarized light being transmitted through the material so that it will pass through the second polarizing filter.
The primary approach to TFT formation over the large areas required for flat panel displays has involved the use of amorphous silicon which has previously been developed for large-area photovoltaic devices. Although the TFT approach has proven to be feasible, the use of amorphous silicon compromises certain aspects of the panel performance. For example, amorphous silicon TFTs lack the frequency response needed for large area displays due to the low electron mobility inherent in amorphous material. Thus, the use of amorphous silicon limits display speed, and is also unsuitable for the fast logic needed to drive the display.
Owing to the limitations of amorphous silicon, other alternative materials include polycrystalline silicon, or laser recrystallized silicon. These materials are limited as they use silicon that is already on glass which generally restricts further circuit processing to low temperatures.
Thus, a need exists for a method of forming high quality TFTs at each pixel of a panel display having the desired speed and providing for ease and reduced cost of fabrication.
The present invention relates to panel displays and methods of fabricating such displays using thin-films of essentially single crystal silicon in which transistors are fabricated to control each pixel of the display. For a preferred embodiment, the thin-film or transistor array is transferred onto an optically transmissive substrate such as glass or transparent organic films. In this embodiment, the thin-film single crystal silicon is used to form a pixel matrix array of thin-film transistors which actuate each pixel of an LCD. CMOS circuitry that is highly suitable for driving the panel display can be formed in the same thin-film material in which the transistors have been formed. The circuitry is capable of being fully interconnected to the matrix array using thin-film metallization techniques without the need for wires and wirebonding.
Each transistor, by application of an electric field or signal, serves to control the optical transmission of light from or through an adjacent material or device. For the purposes of this application the transistor and the adjacent material or device through which light from a source is transmitted is refered to as a light valve. Thus, each pixel of the panel display can be an independently controlled light valve. Examples of such light valves include LCDs or any liquid or solid state material whose light transmitting characteristics can be altered with an electric field or signal and which can be configured to provide a dense pixel array. The present devices and related methods of fabrication satisfy all of the requirements of large scale flat panel to produce highly defined color images. The transistors of switches can be paired with electroluminescent display elements (ELDs) or light emitting diodes (LEDs) to provide a display.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes large area semiconductor films, separates the films from the processing substrate, and mounts them on glass or other suitable optically transmissive materials. Films of single crystal silicon with thicknesses on the order of 2 microns or less, have been separated from epitaxial substrates, and the films have been mounted on glass and ceramics. Functional p-n junction devices such as field effect transistors (xe2x80x9cFETsxe2x80x9d) are at least partially fabricated prior to separation and then transferred to glass. Various bonding procedures can be used for mounting on substrates including adhesives, electrostatic bonding, Van der Waal""s forces or a eutectic alloy for bonding. Other known methods can also be utilized.
A preferred embodiment of the process comprises the steps of forming a thin essentially single crystal Si film on a release substrate, fabricating an array of pixel electrodes and thin-film enhancement mode, transistors, and associated COOS circuitry on the thin film. Each transistor is electrically connected to one of the pixel electrodes such that each pixel can be independently actuated by one of the transistors, The CMOS circuitry can be used to control pixel actuation and the resulting image or images that are displayed. Device fabrication can be initiated while the thin-film is still attached to the release substrate by formation of source, drain, channel and gate regions, and interconnection with pixel electrodes. By substantially completing device processing prior to transfer to the final panel substrate, a low temperature glass or polymer can be used. Alternatively, all or a portion of device fabrication can occur after release, or upon transfer of the processed film to the glass or plastic plate. After transfer, integration with color filters and liquid crystal materials completes the panel for an embodiment employing an LCD.
Preferred methods of thin-film formation processes employ silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology where an essentially single crystal film is formed on an insulating substrate from which it can be released. For the purposes of the present application, the term xe2x80x9cessentially single crystalxe2x80x9d means a film in which a majority of crystals extend over a cross-sectional area, in the plane extending laterally through the film, of at least 0.1 cm2 and preferably in the range of 0.5-1.0 cm2 or more. Such films can be formed using known techniques, on sapphire, SiO2, carbon and silicon carbide substrates, for example.
SOI technology generally involves the formation of a silicon layer whose crystal lattice does not match that of the underlying substrate. A particular preferred embodiment uses Isolated Silicon Epitaxy (ISE) to produce a thin film of high quality Si on a release layer. This process can include the deposition of a non-single crystal material such as amorphous or polycrystalline silicon on the release layer which is than heated to crystallize the material to form an essentially single crystal silicon. The use of a release layer enables the film and circuit release using oxides beneath the active layer that can be etched without harm to the circuits.
In a preferred embodiment the entire substrate on which the epitaxial film has been formed is removed by an etch back procedure.
Alternatively, methods of chemical epitaxial lift-off, a process for transferring semiconductor material to glass or other substrates, can be applied to large area sheets of the desired semiconductor material. These or other release methods can be used to remove any thin-film single crystal material from a growth substrate for transfer onto substrates for circuit panel fabrication.
The present invention includes CMOS circuit and pixel electrode formation in a recrystallized silicon film that is then, secured to a second transfer substrate, removed from the starting wafer or substrate, and mounted on the glass or other suitable substrate to form the circuit panel. Alternatively, one can first form the circuits, bond the circuits to glass, and then separate the circuits from the substrate. The pixels are positioned in rows and columns having a planar geometry. The order of the fabrication steps allows the use of conventional fast CMOS (or other) logic onboard the glass, since the high temperature processing for these circuits are performed prior to transfer.
Another preferred embodiment involves the fabrication of a discrete array of transistor elements, transferring these elements onto a stretchable substrate which either contracts or expands to provide the desired spacing or registration of the discrete elements and then transferring these elements onto a final substrate that is including in the display panel.
The above, and other features of the invention including various novel details of construction and combination of parts, will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings and that pointed out in the claims. It will be understood that the particular panel display and the methods used in fabricating those panels which embody the invention are shown by way of illustration only and not as a limitation of the invention. The principal features of this invention can be employed in various embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.